Geography – West Earlham Junior School

Welcome to our 2023/2024 Year 5 Blog

Year 5 Trip to Norwich- ‘Our Fine City’

We went to visit the centre of Norwich. Once there we were given a number of challenges to complete on our trip. These included:

Visiting Norwich Market
Creating a map of key Norwich landmarks that can be viewed from the top of the market.
Going on a George Skipper building hunt to think about how one architect can make a difference to one city.
Viewing the George Skipper’s botanical tiles in the Royal Arcade.
Sketching the botanical tiles to provide inspiration for our printing designs once back in school.
Investigating the modern Norwich streets for historical clues as well as journeying underground to find out what hidden secrets lie beneath our feet.

**Looking for Norwich landmarks.**
**Here is the spire of our Norman Cathedral.**

Garden Project

The school has been working in partnership with the ‘Garden Project’. As part of this project we have planted trees with the Year 4’s at the bottom of our field and have attended a range of workshops to find out more about the Science and Geography of our local environment. Here are a few photographs from our day.

How can one person make a BIG difference?

Throughout the year, we will be using what we have learnt to think about the overarching question “How can one person make a BIG difference?” In the Autumn Term we thought about how King William changed Britain and how the Norman rule shaped the Norwich landscape. We compared the Norman influence on Norwich with the influence of local architect George Skipper. We loved searching for clues in our fine city.

When learning about the Ancient Kingdom of Benin, we thought about how one person (the Oba) can make a big difference to society and a community of people. In the Summer Term, we will inquire into the lives of Robert Kett and Ruby Bridges. Two very different people who made big decisions that will be remembered throughout History. We can’t wait to find out more and think about how we can make a difference to those around us.

Gardener’s Diary: Preparing the Ground

We used our investigation skills to see how the neolithic people of Skara Brae might have prepared the ground for planting and farming. We had a lot of fun on the way!

Our Own Island…

Year three looked at the features of Skara Brae and used these features to design our own island.

Year 5 Blog 2022/23

Welcome to the Year 5 Blog. Please read below to find out more about what we have been learning throughout the Autumn Term.

At the start of the term we launched our inquiry by discovering and learning about the landmarks of our fine city, Norwich. As part of our learning we used a range of books, leaflets and online materials to research facts about Norwich. In groups we chose the facts we wanted to share and created posters. After that we created a presentation and shared the information with the rest of the class. We enjoyed using our public speaking voices and being the audience for one another.

Year 5 Trip to Norwich

We went on a trip to Norwich to find out how George Skipper has influenced the architecture of Norwich. We visited Surrey House and the Royal Arcade and created sketches of the botanical tiles. We also went on the Hidden Streets Tour. This was exciting because we got to go underneath the modern day streets. We used our history skills to find out more about the past.

To complete the trip we stood at the top of Norwich Market and drew a map of the Norwich skyline and key landmarks. We really enjoyed eating our lunch on the Forum steps.